


When It All Falls Apart (I’ll Be There)

by Chosenfire



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-22
Updated: 2011-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-27 19:09:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/299097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chosenfire/pseuds/Chosenfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fiona rushes home from work because her two month old brother is sick and her mom is nowhere to be found. It's just another typical day in the Gallagher household.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When It All Falls Apart (I’ll Be There)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> It was really hard for me to choose out of the prompts given, all of them were amazing. I ended up going with the following - A pre-series fic focusing on Fiona taking over the role as care-taker of the family, and in the same way, Lip and Ian reaching out to help her.
> 
> Also, a huge thank you to my wonderful beta wandersfound!

“Hey, Fiona! You got a call, it's your sister.”

Fiona tossed the towel she had been using to clean the table over her shoulder and grabbed the phone across the counter. One of the Gallagher siblings were always calling her at work. They were just kids and they needed someone looking after them, so that fell on Fiona. None of them expected Frank or Monica to step up and actually care for their kids.

“Thanks, Paul!" she yelled back, squeezing in behind the counter, wrapping the cord around her elbow. "You're supposed to be in school, Debs," she admonished her little sister. It was past noon, the lunch crowd was winding down, and she still had three hours on her shift. "You can't start skipping; remember what happened with Ian?" The Gallaghers tended to avoid situations where they had to deal with the cops, and cops got called when students were truant. Luckily, Tony had intercepted the report and had given Fiona the heads up.

"Dad signed me out. He needed me to watch Liam."

That was the first alarm bell for Fiona. Frank didn’t sign the kids out, in fact he tended to avoid the school all together. Fiona handled the school for the kids, if she couldn’t then Monica would. She was their mother after all; it was her job.

"Where's Monica?" Paul pointed to the clock and Fiona nodded back, knowing she needed to get back to work. This gig wasn't the best; the pay was crap and the place had roaches, but it was better than some jobs she had. They were already more lenient then others too. Hence the phone call in the middle of her shift.

"Mom's not here."

Of course she wasn't, and Frank instead of being a responsible adult had probably gone to the bar. It pissed her off that he'd pulled Debbie out of school to do it. Fiona checked the clock again, "You gonna be good ‘till I get home?"

"That's why I called. I can watch Liam, it's no big deal." Debbie had always wanted to grow up too fast. She tried to be a mom when she herself was still just a kid. She'd even offered for Liam to move into her room when Monica and Frank had complained about the baby keeping them up at night. Never mind that she was only 8 and had school in the mornings. Fiona had tried to talk her out of it, but Frank and Monica had been all too happy with the arrangement. So Fiona had moved from the couch and set up a bed for herself into the room. So if Liam cried at night Fiona got up with him and Debs got to sleep. "Liam is sick, he's coughing really bad and he's really hot. I don't know what to do."

Fiona closed her eyes and threw the towel on her shoulder onto the counter. "Call V, she worked at the hospital for a while. I'll be home in 20 okay?"

"Okay, thank you, Fiona."

Fiona hung up and ripped off the apron, hanging it on the hook "I got to take off Paul, my kid brother is sick."

"So let your mom handle it, we're in the middle of the lunch rush." He looked pissed.

"She's not around." Fiona reached into the cupboard under the register grabbing her purse "Call Tiff, see if she can come in," she suggested and, really, at this point it didn't matter. She was most likely out of a job. There were a lot of people looking for work who wouldn't take calls in the middle of shifts or rush off because their siblings needed them. She figured she'd used up her good will with Paul last month when she had had to take a week off to stay with Liam. Who knew babies needed to be fed and changed regularly? Monica and Frank certainty didn't, too wrapped up in their latest fight or get rich quick scheme.

Seeing the disappointment in Paul's eyes, Fiona promised, "I'll drop off my key in the morning." Right now she needed to get home and take care of her baby brother.

 

~*~

 

“How is he?” Fiona demanded, slamming the door behind her. Debbie handed Liam over, and Fiona gently settled him into the cradle of her arms.

He was only 2 months old, a curly fizz of hair on his head and his skin a warm brown. Frank hadn’t said Liam wasn’t his kid but it was obvious to anyone that looked at him. Still, he was her little brother and she’d been there when he was born. She’d been the first one to hold him. She’d been the one to get up with him in the middle of the night and get him a bottle or change his diaper.

It’s not like Monica and Frank didn’t try. They did. They just sucked at it. Monica couldn’t stick to the feeding schedule; Frank would leave the room when he’d cry. They were also both too wrapped up in fighting each other to care about the littlest Gallagher.

It didn’t matter, though. Liam got taken care of: he had Fiona, he had Lip and Ian, and Debbie, even Carl helped out. They were Gallaghers, they took care of their own.

“His fever’s gone down.” Veronica was packing away her kit, and Fiona was grateful to have her for a friend. Without her and Kevin, she’d be lost. “His cough is pretty bad, though; if you can’t take him to a clinic I have a humidifier I borrowed from the hospital. It should help with his breathing. I put some Baby Vick’s on him.” she leaned forward to brush her finger against his cheek. He turned his head towards her snuffling, a cough working its way out of his throat.

Fiona felt like crying, hating to see her little brother in pain. He was too small. “Thanks V, we could use the humidifier.” They didn’t have enough for the clinic visit, not with the electric due in a week and the stitches Lip had to get last month. Her brother was sick and she couldn’t even help him; she felt helpless.

“Anyone know where Frank and Monica are?” she demanded, rage burning through her. They should be here. They were his goddamn parents.

“Kev saw Frank at The Alibi, said he’s drinking a lot more than usual. No trace of Monica.”

“Right, because who disappears when they have a sick two month old?” Fiona tried to keep her voice down, tried to keep her emotions in check. Liam needed her right now. Debbie needed her.

“Are you talking about Monica? She take off again?” Lip came into the room, taking off his scarf, flecks of snow still in his hair from outside, Ian trailing right behind him like he always was. “Can’t say I’m surprised, wonder how long it’s going to be for this time?” There was a bitterness in his voice that echoed what Fiona felt. At 16 Lip shouldn’t be so bitter, so jaded. He shouldn’t know that people were fucked up and their parents most of all.

“We don’t know for sure if she took off again, she could just be at the store,” Ian argued, and Lip just laughed, stepping forward and holding his arms out. Gratefully, Fiona passed Liam over to him. He was already falling to sleep and Lip rocked him gently before laying him back down in the bassinet of the playpin they had. It had been a gift from Mrs. Rickson down the street; her youngest was finally out of diapers and she hadn’t needed it anymore.

“Frank’s at the Alibi, Kev says he’s drinking again.” Fiona said softly. On his best days Frank wasn’t completely sober but he tried. He got the kids up for school while Fiona made them lunch, he managed the best he could. Last time Monica had taken off Fiona had been 15. For the three months she’d been gone Frank spent more times passed out in alleyways than at home. Since then they had learned to measure how bad things were between their parents by how much Frank drank.

Fiona shouldn’t have expected anything to change with Liam being born. What was one more kid when you were already fucking up with 5 others?

“I’ll go get that humidifier for Liam.” Veronica pulled her into a quick hug and Fiona let her lean into her, thankful.

“And could you call Kev and ask if he could find someone to bring Frank home tonight?”

“I’ll help him get home,” Lip offered.

Both Fiona and Veronica looked at him skeptically. Veronica rolled her eyes. “I’ll call Kev.”

“Thanks, V.”

Veronica gave her a smile as she left.

Ian looked lost, tears in his eyes and Fiona wished she could tell him it would be okay. That mom would come back, that Frank would stop drinking. “I signed up for JROTC, mom told me I should.” He threw his bag down and stormed upstairs.

Debbie yelped and started to cry.

Fiona dragged her hands over her face and turned to Lip. “Go after him, me and Debs are going to watch a movie and keep Liam company, Carl should be home from school in about 15 minutes.” Lip was already leaning down and picking Debbie up. She wasn’t exactly small anymore and he was just growing into his body but still she buried her head into his shoulder sniffling.

“Thank you.” Fiona took off up the stairs after Ian.

 

~*~

 

“Ian?” Fiona knocked once on the door before barging in. There were clothes all over the floor, and what looked like a GI Joe melted together with a Barbie in the middle of the floor, clearly one of Carl’s projects. He’d been getting more creative lately and she’d have to remind Lip to keep the lighter away from him.

Ian was spread out across his bed, his hands folded under his head looking at the ceiling. Fiona kicked his legs out of the way and sat down on the bed. He flipped around, laying his head in her lap.

“Mom put those up. I told her I liked the start outside of Drew Marshall’s room. it was stupid, I don’t even know why I said it. I only slept over there when I was 10, but I remembered the stars. So the next day when I went to go to bed she kicked Lip and Carl out and turned off the lights and showed me. Told me she gave me back the stars.”

“Yeah, Monica’s like that.”Fiona brushed her hands through his hair, he would need a hair cut soon. “When I was 6 I told her I wanted to be a Princess, so she got out this old crown, and put me in this really ugly fluffy dress she had and had Frank calling me Princess Fiona.” Fiona didn’t fight the smile, remembering. Dinner had seemed fancier that night. Lip had only been 1 at the time and they’d called him Prince Phillip, putting him in his hair chair and saying it was his royal throne. She hadn’t been able to stop laughing that night and had gone to sleep smiling.

A few days later Monica took off for the first time, it had only been a week but Fiona had been scared, she had cried and begged Frank to bring mommy back. Frank had told her she was coming back, he had promised her as he’s taken care of her and Lip the best he could. That was before he started drinking, before a week had turned into a month, then into three months.

“How long do you think she’ll be gone this time?” Ian asked her softly.

Fiona continued brushing his hair with her fingers and looked down into his eyes. For better or worse these were her kids. She’d been the one to raise them, not Monica and Frank. She didn’t like to lie to them. “I don’t know, she might not come back this time. But we’ll be okay.”

And he smiled, telling her, “Because we got you.”

“Not exactly going anywhere. Now come on.” She shoved him off her lap and he tumbled onto the floor looking startled “Let’s go downstairs. Carl should be home by now. I’ll see about picking up a pizza for dinner, Chuck at the Pizza Hut around the block likes me.”

Ian laughed and followed her downstairs.

This was her family. It wasn’t perfect; they were all pretty fucked up in their own way and their parents certainly didn’t help. But they were Gallagher’s and Gallagher’s stuck together. Their family wasn’t Frank, or Monica.

It was them. It was Lip and the way he was stepping up, it was Ian and the way he kept reaching out, wanting more, it was Debbie and her refusal to act to her age, to belong, it was Carl and growing psychosis and Liam and just growing.

And it was her, she would hold them together, she would take care of them. Most kids grew up with dreams, looking towards the future, all Fiona had ever wanted was their future, the chance to give them one better then what they had and she wasn’t going to let fucking Monica or Frank get in the way of that.


End file.
